24 March 2022
CWGC Archive receives Accredited Archive status
CWGC are delighted to have been awarded Accredited Archive Service status by The National Archives administered Archive Service Accreditation scheme.
This award demonstrates the CWGC archive service has met clearly defined national standards for the care and provision of access to their archived collections.
The award required submitting a detailed application covering the archive service, its processes and operation with supporting evidence for review by external assessors. This was closely followed by an onsite visit from The National Archives Archive Sector Development team. The final hurdle was a review conducted by an assessment board.
Due to the COVID pandemic the process has taken longer than expected, starting in 2019, but paused until late 2021 for the final application.
We are particularly pleased the Accreditation panel noted:
“…the many strengths of this archive service, including the strong forward planning and policy framework. Also impressive was the online offer to access the archives through wide digitisation and cataloguing of the collections.”
Acknowledging the detailed effort taken to achieve the award CWGC Chief Archivist Andrew Fetherston said:
"I’d like to thank all the archive team, our archive volunteers, and other colleagues around the Commission who have all contributed to this successful outcome, and to give thanks for the help and support we have received from The National Archives throughout the application process.
The work now starts to ensure that we continue doing the good work that we have been recognised for and ensure that we can retain our accredited status into the future.”
The CWGC archive tracks the history of the Commission from its founding in 1917 through to the present day. The archive contains over 60,000 items from the Commission’s past including personal correspondence letters, maintenance and tour reports, staff records, photographs and press cuttings. The Commission’s archive collection was made digital for the first time in 2017.
Liz Woodfield, CWGC Director of External Relations said:
"We are absolutely delighted to gain this accreditation which is recognition of the incredibly hard work that our teams have put into making our archives more accessible to the public and enhancing our online resources."
